Thirty two oarsmen picked for SA Games pool

by Leslie Fernando

The Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka (ARASL) has selected 32 oarsmen for the National Rowing squad in preparation for the South Asian Games to be held in Colombo next year.

This is the preliminary pool where nominations were received by the various clubs, and institutions, said national coach Lakmal Wickremage. The current pool of 32 oarsmen will be reduced after the initial testing to be carried out by end of October. Regular tests will be carried out to monitor the progress of the oarsmen. Depending on these results of the eventual combination of crews the pool may be further reduced if necessary. Currently the squad trains six sessions a week.

This will be increased to 8 sessions by the end of October. The squad is under training by Wickremage and Saliya Wijesekera, assistant coach.

The rowers are expected to train at the Bolgoda Lake, the venue for the rowing events of the 2006 South Asian Games. It will be a straight 2000- metre course at Bolgoda Lake.

The distance is the international standard limit for rowing events, whereas races held up to now in Sri Lanka have been held for a distance of one mile on the Beira Lake. Our oarsmen fared well at the last South Asian Federation Games rowing events held for the first time in Islamabad, Pakistan winning five silvers and two bronze medals. The ARASL coaches said that they hope to get gold at the 2006 South Asian Games.

The national rowing squad: Chanaka Talpahewa, Udesh Hettiarachchi, Mahil Gamage, Niranjan Gajendran, (Colombo Rowing Club), S.B.D.P.S. Fonseka, R.M.S.L. Ratnayake, H.A.D.S.S. Appuhamy, T.G.R. Kularatne, D.T.S.K. de Silva, S.A.C.S. Kumara, J.C. Nishantha, V.G.N. Shantha, H.M. Amaradasa, K.A.K. Chandana, J.M. Hussain, W.S.K. Wimaladasa, M.G.R. Kumara (Sri Lanka Navy), Johanne Corera (Old Joes), Basim Hassan, Chrishan Silva (St.Joseph's College), Sisira Kumara, C. Aloysius, C. Waidyaratne, K.K.C. Rohana, T.M.L.P. Tharanga, Gaya Dassanayake (Sri Lanka Air Force), Gayan Kaushalya, Chamara Kottehewa, Ramith Jayasinghe, (University of Colombo), Nimantha Hewagama, Wijendra Senarathne, Udara Fernando (Ananda College)